I'm very happy to hear that this thread has helped so many people. I'm finding the results that folks are getting on there RMA's very interesting as well. especially the parts about the BIOS I never did try reverting back to the 603 BIOS before I returned my board. as bgolden mentioned maybe you could check back in, in a couple of weeks and give us an update of how things are working out for you. good or bad that kind of information is valuable thanks.

Bgolden, I wonder how that 2000mhz RAM is going to work out for you on the older BIOS version? normally, I might say that would be fun to play around with.

but, at this point it actually seems more like a chore. I would love to hear how things go though.

(Advertisement) "This report is brought to you by: Intel Flaky(tm) - BIOS for top end products: if you got the cash, we can make it crash!" :P.

Anyway, back on track, I suppose no one is exactly laughing...

First night with the BIOS reverted to 603 and I *still* had a reset/reboot/restart, whatever. Bear with me though, maybe this is another, unrelated problem? I need to get to work but I'll keep doing some more tests, after all, worst case I'm still RMA'ing, right? And IIRC, no one else reported spontaneous restarts, yes? I might need help with that, though (not sure it might be Windows related, some friends suggested leaving the machine on with Linux running, just to check - I'm starting to think that's a viable test right there).

But just right now I did the sleep test, and it is indeed still working like a charm. I also did a power on after a shutdown and booted fine without issues - so far I'm running as stable as ever, considering just yesterday I was hardly getting any boots at all.

I'll leave the machine off and do the cold start test when I get back from work so I can report on the main issues most are having here.

As promised, I just did a cold boot test 5 minutes ago. I left my rig powered off for about 9 hours straight; hit the power button...

Drum roll, please!

I'm really sad to say that this looks like a really bad batch (or worse, whatever). The mobo turned on with red LEDs flashing all over (I'm not sure I remember anyone here mentioning those; yesterday I had them turning on *a lot* during failed boots). Got a message telling me some BIOS config wasn't right (old news) and a prompt asking me if I wanted to reveiew anything or continue booting with the current settings - this was *after* the fans started blasting away merrily at 100% and hanging for a bit on 00.

So I guess I'll be RMA'ing then. Bummer. I can only hope everyone here (including me) can get out of this situation without spending another dollar, or tears, sweat, blood, whatever, because frankly, this is a fiasco for Intel, really.

I'm the proud owner of a top-of-the-line Intel Premium Sh*t mobo, only without the Premium, just the sh*t. As soon as I RMA to a new board and assemble the rig I'll post any news (good or bad) here to keep the sharing (and the hating, loathing, etc) going on strong. Just hoping searches on Google for DX58SO2 top out with this thread, so no one else makes this mistake.

Sorry to hear about your experience. Please let us know how your RMA board works out. Since your board came with 0603 BIOS and you left it alone and have the same "00" Hang issue, this sort of blows the bad BIOS "upgrades" out the window, in my mind at least. I am joining the bad board or bad batch of boards camp.

So far, my score with Intel boards is 2 out of 3. Had a Badaxe 775 board that was flawless (until I killed it thru user error - now I wear my glasses before I plug anything in ) . I have had one bad DS58SO2 and one good DS58SO2. I am holding tight until this fall when the X79 chipset comes out before upgrading again. Then, I am going to have to think long and hard as to which manufacturer to go with. Every one of them has good points and bad points (either bad customer service or they can't seem to get things right to save their lives).

I am disappointed in Intel though. After all, it is their own Chipset. One would think that they could design a reliable high end board around it. Some of us do buy a high end board to do something besides playing solitaire.

System is stable when running (2) sticks, in slots 1,2 or 1,3 (dual channel)

Anything over 4GB (2 sticks), and the system balks. Error code 1C.

Also, if take power off PSU, will 'usually' get 1C-error.

If (1) stick installed, leave system off, power on PSU, add 2nd stick = boot OK (up and into Win7)

(power off the PSU and it does a BIOS boot recovery, and leads me into the BIOS (Y to BIOS)).

The following is the note to Corsair for their insights.

(Memory Settings - Have tried Automatic (SPD), Manual (RE: info found on forum), and XMP-1600.) None of these settings work with 6 sticks installed. All 'appear' to work with only one or two sticks installed.

Some Details:

System is not stable/will not start with 12GB installed. When it fails, if I remove (1) RAM stick, after a few 'reseting' reboots (mobo appears to 'reset' after (1) stick removed). Mobo comes up saying old settings didn't work, and I go into BIOS.

But even after removing (1) stick (now 10GB RAM onboard), it will still lock up on restart. (Mobo shows code '1C'.)

I remove another stick, and it will 'usually' restart again after 'resetting' itself.

The ONLY configuration that is stable, and passes 'burn-in', is (2) sticks (4GB) in the first two blue RAM slots (for dual-channel). If I add the 3rd stick in the 3rd slot, (attempting triple-channel), it might/might not work. Once I add this, it becomes 'unstable' again.

Any help would be great. I did enter the settings displayed on forum by Yellowbeard for the DX58S0 motherboard (not! the DX58S02)

They work with the (4GB)/two sticks, but any more and system becomes unstable. (Will not start, stops at Mobo code 1C)

I've substituted RAM sticks too, searching for a 'bad stick', but they all appear OK, except when all mounted/greater than 4GB/two sticks installed.

update:ran memtest on all sticks in many configs, all passed memchk, however, still some boot up problems.

Seems, no matter the configuration, anything over (2) sticks (4GB), will fail to boot.

So if anyone knows of any help with this issue, it would be great..

My current status: Deliver system with 4GB RAM (still plenty quick), and wait for a future BIOS update fix.

It works 'perfectly' with 2 sticks/4GB RAM. I turned off Sleep and Hibernation, and it runs overnight without a hitch now. (It's 1st hibernation failed! eliminated that by 'throwing the baby out with the bath water', ie. Turn it all off. (Good thing it was designed and engineered just so we can turn around and shut it off, good grief)

Been an Intel customer for 20yrs+. Always used Intel boards and whatever other hardware they offered. This experience has shaken my 'beliefs' to the core. I'm agast at Intel for such a 'shody' product, released with such obvious issues, and as Amunaor stated, to remain so quiet on this forum with a staggering 228+ posts in this thread.

It reminded me of something I once heard, that an $8000 dollar bottle of wine is no better than a $2000 bottle of wine, so why spend the difference?

Why I chose to get this 'Extreme' board and not go with one of the more 'mainstream' products is beyond me now. A good 'cheap' board that works would by far had been a better choice than this 'hotrod' that likes not to work at times.

end rant. hehe

Amunaor - If you have same i7 CPU, then I would love to know how you got more than 4GB running in it. (We had same RAM). I don't get the '00' error/boot-lockup. And after reading all these posts. I might recommend to you to make sure you try a different monitor or two. Since it appears you guys issues ('00' boot-lockup) are related 'maybe' to vid.

Spent nearly 4 hours attempting to load windows 7 ultimate before i finally gave up. This board is simply too unstable. I flashed back to bios ver 603, then back to 779, same results. Even with windows sitting at login, doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, it reboots. Sometimes it will go thru several reboots, initializing the RAM but failing to post the CPU, before it comes back up. I intended to use this machine for heavy graphic design. I cannot have it randomly rebooting.

I am returning this one to exchange for an older (tried and true) DX58SO. I know it isnt as fancy and feature-loaded as the DX58SO2, but I have 6 of these in play, some for nearly 2 years, all running RAID 1 arrays, and I have not had a single issue with any of them. According to Intel, the DX58SO will support the new 6-core CPUs, including the 970.

I wish all those who are choosing to stick with the SO2 and wait out the storm all the best luck. Intel should be ashamed to put out such an obviously flawed product, and let their customers debug it for them. A little too much like Microsoft, if you ask me.

P.S. I did have a thought, though. I did notice that there seemed to be two different reboots: First, running a particular software (chrome was one, resizing a chrome window would instantly cause a reboot, time and again.) The second seemed to perhaps be temperature related. If the machine was off for a period of time and then booted up, it would be several minutes before the first random reboot. If it had been running a while, the reboots became more frequent. I noticed that the bios was reading the CPU temp at around 54c. I am using the stock cooler that came with the CPU, and yes I did install the thermal paste. I am just wondering if the board in general is running hot. Design flaw?

as mentioned on page 14 i have this problem-child board. (yes i meant 1.5 v not 5.1 v doh...apologies.)

INTEL WHERE IS THE BIOS UPDATE FOR THIS FLAMING THING! STILL ON 779 WHAT THE HELL!!

for whatever reason my power supply blew up yesteday. the MB still showed the red "power" button lit and the green "reset" button glowing but no boot, nothing. I took the PS to two different stores, both reported PS as DEAD AS A DOORNAIL. perhaps it was supplying 5 v but not 12 v to the MB to get the small leds to glow, or whatever. PS was a 660w Zalman. Brought a 750 W Thermaltake to replace. spent my saturday nite rage party re-wiring the PS in my PC. what a thrill.

now, i get my DX58S02 booting but within a few minutes i get blackscreen and no response. on restart i get the dreaded 3 beeps and display 16 on the MB. this happens consistently, but especially as the PC is put under load.

my feeling about this MB and Bios is that Intel have screwed up the RAM sensing settings and this is why so many people are having so much trouble. Or this is just ONE of the problems of this bios/mb. it just senses the wrong RAM and chooses the wrong default settings.(or something)....

Intel had a new bios for DX58SO2 (aka BIOS Version 0806), dated 9th of June, but it was pooled with no apparent reason before it was advertised. I managed to downloaded it and i have the release notes:

Yup. this must be the most frustrating Intel MB ever produced. DX58SO was perfect and hassle free. Main issue seems to be mem controller. Hard to get it to run stably at 1333, even though ram is 1600 rated. At 1333, screen fails to resume from sleep. Won't even boot at 1600 XPM or Manual set. Defaults at 1066, yet same ram defaults to 1333 in DP67CL MB.

Strange that the older CL8-1600 ram accepted and runs fine in Tri Channel XMP mode. very stable without over clock CPU voltages. Though installing 1600 CL9 as per reccommended, has all sorts of hassle.

Spent 3 months on and off messing with this board prior to putting on my desktop. Reasonably happy with it now, just wish they would get the bios right. then again some restrictions may be imposed in the BIOS in order the higher end CPU's will sell.

1:/ Why does the bios insist on making my Samsung memory 7-7-7 when it is 9-9-9 as per the spec sheet for this memory. Why is this bios sensing the wrong timing for the mem? did some kid program this Bios?

2:/ why does it keep defaulting the RAM to 1067mhz when it is 1333 as per spec.

3:/ why does it select 1.51 v when it should be 1.50 v.

4:/ why is it not good enough for RAM to be on the Intel list as certified for this MB for it to work what the hell are you doing Intel.

5:/ why was the recent Bios update pulled and when will we be receiving the new update.

6:/ has anyone had this problem and solved it by simply using Corsair Vengeance RAM (as everyone seems to be having success with using this RAM on this thread)

7:/ has anyone had this problem and solved it by flashing back to 0603 bios the newer the bios update the more stable you would think it is what the hell are you doing (again) Intel...

I cant give up on this MB i have gone too far with my massive audio software installation ...100s of plugins, authorisations, etc. This MB would be THE HELL OUTA HERE if it wasnt for the fact that i would have to re-install Windows and my plugins which would take me at least 4 weeks out of my life again.

Try to download and install a bootable "clonezilla" to a USB drive, use it to boot another machine attached with the hard drive on which you don't want to lost 4 weeks work, and fully clone the hard drive to another place via network/usb drive (or mirror to another hard drive of same model & size if you have).

After that you can try to connect the backup drive to anther MB and see if the OS can wake itself up.